The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-04-16
year. and. in the vay of rat;ons. ,

year, and. in the way Of rations. .
little rice. some bread and tobacco are
dealt out by the head servant or stew
ard every day, or week, as the case
may be. Service is such steady en-
ploJment in Persia that when a Persian
has obtained a good MASTER. e.. u
pretty liberal one-he marries, know
ing that he can comfortably support
MS family on his combined wages and
offerings. For he is as un~consciona-
bic a liar and thief as the Greek. Cases
are not at all rare of a servant
Keeping two OF three wives out of what
he can fitch and squeeze out of the
household. Thus the cook at the
American legation at Teheran, Ali
Azoffor, kept three wives and about a
dozen children, and the young valet
OF the minister's son0fed the wives of
his bosom not alone, but also an aged
parent and a lonely sister out of the
proceeds of his daily spoils. The thiev-
lsh commission the Persian servant ex-
acts is know as "mudakhil," and the
size is limited by the servant greed and
his victims purse. Such "mudakhil"
is levied on every thing whichis bought
for or by the master, from a house or
horse to II mosquito-net. Even the
best and most trusted Persian servant
takes it. and it is, indeed, considered
in the light of one of the best estab-
lished and most honored institutions
OF the country. No one can escape the
'~'mudakhil,' not even the all-powerful
Shah. His servants rob and plumber
him just as persistently as do those of
the European residents or travellers
their employers, But there is a fine
distinction. A ''mudakhil' of ten per
cent. on the purchase price is very
straight forward, honorable and fair;
one Of twenty per cent. is permissible,
but one of forty or fifty per cent. is
theft and brands the servant as dis
honest. Such a one loses caste and could
only be excused by his countrymen if
his victim be a newly arrived ''feren-
CHI" II European or American of green
horn p%ropensities. But even in that
Ease it would be held to be stretching
the bow a little too far. As long as he
keeps within the bounds just men
toned the Persian servant may cheat
and swindle his master every minute if
he can. and he may proudly raise his
head and call himself an honest man in
Persia. The natives understand this
fine principle so well that even if the
master should, in exceptional cases,
take the trouble to purchase the goods
IN question himself the dealer will
always in the purchase price include
the ''mudakhil' for the servant, to be
paid the latter on the nail rs soon after
the sale as he chooses to call for it.
The Persian servant is not a very
superior article. He is lazy, dishonest,
slow, unreliable, untruthful, snd decid-
edly slovenly in his personal habits.
Besides, he is possessed of one charac-
t~eristic which will alone suffice to make
him distasteful to the average Westerner
he is so horribly familiar. He iden-
titles himself so wholly with your per-
son and interests that he will interrupt
your conversation, do things in your
name you never wanted him to, prom
Use or deny vicariously and with tie
utmost show of authority. On the
other hand, the Persian servant is very
humble and faithful. If you pay him
his dues, let him appropriate what he
considers his rightful share of your
wealth, and are not cruelty unjust to
him. he will stand any thing from you
without bearing malice. He may be
kicked and cuffed and boxed around,
bastinadoed, and whipped within an
inch Of his life, and he will still cling
to you and own you as his master if
you do not break the above paragraphs
of the silent covenant with him. Their
needs are very few and simple as com
pared with our own, and they are easily
satisfied. The monthly wages Of ar
able-bodied Persian servant of average
skill and intelligence vary between 10
and so kraus ($1.50 to $3.50, and very
seldom reach the latter figure. The
Europeans in Persia pay the best
wages, but ever they seldom pay more
than 40 kraus to a valet and so kraus to
a cook, which includes thewages Of his
assistant or assistants. The Persian
dignitaries keep a r%idiculously large
retinue of servants. often $50 to 200.
But of this number but Il small fraction
have their domicile in the masters
house. The chief servant arranges it
that a certain proportion Of the total
number sleep st the masters house
each night by turns, and the rest spend